JRitt@essex

Hello Gents,
I've mentioned this product before, and we're now just about ready for launch. These are heavy duty AP Racing J Hook 2-piece floating discs, designed to work with the OEM calipers on the C7 Stingray Z51. These are essentially the same as the discs we use in our Competition Big Brake Kits. They're also just like the discs we've been using in professional racing on the C5.R, C6.R, and C7.R before they switched to carbon/carbon. These are essentially a "must have" for anyone who is running their car hard on the track. They'll save a ton of money in disc and pad replacements over the life of the car, keep everything running cooler, dramatically lower consumable wear rates, decrease the likelihood of boiling brake fluid, and shave some unsprung weight (on the rear).

We're hoping to start shipping these by the end of this month.

You can see all of the details on our website:
Front Essex Designed AP Racing Heavy Duty 2-piece J Hook Disc Pair for C7 Stingray Z51

Rear Essex Designed AP Racing Heavy Duty 2-piece J Hook Disc Pair for C7 Stingray Z51

Here are some pics of the front:







Here are some shots of the rear:







Below is the slightly larger version of these discs as found on the front of the C6.R...72 vane, fully floating AP Racing J Hook.



ps Why do I have the feeling I'm never going to live the spelling error in my title down...at least it's sort of appropriate for brakes though!

descartesfool

Fantastic. AP Racing brakes J-hooks are the real deal for the track. Nothing but the best in terms of metallurgy and resistance to cracking from hard core use. My Z51 OEM rotors are very soft and got really worn down from leaving in my HAWK DTC70 pads on the street. They had big grooves on tem after just 1200 street miles, and I had to take the pads out and put back OEM's. These AP rotors are much, much tougher and will not suffer the same fate as OEM rotors. A true racing quality product, seen on a majority of racing cars.

JRitt@essex

The fronts are $1298 per pair, and the rears are also $1298 per pair.

Iron replacement rings are $339 each for the front:
Front 340x30mm AP Racing J Hook iron replacement ring (right)

Front 340x30mm AP Racing J Hook iron replacement ring (left)

Iron replacement rings for the rear are $329 each:

Rear 338x26mm AP Racing J Hook iron replacement ring (right)

Rear 338x26mm AP Racing J Hook iron replacement ring (left)


Thanks for the kind words!

JRitt@essex

FYI...our two-piece Z51 replacement AP Racing J Hook discs are now shipping! Front and rear. These mate up to the OEM calipers without any other modifications.

thebishman

I agree. I had the J-Hooks on my GT-R and they are fantastic; so much better than the OEM drilled product. Jeff is a great guy to purchase stuff from also. He really knows brakes.
Bish

daleong

Hi Jeff, do the rear rotors allow for the parking brake to work? The photo above looks like it has a drum in hat design. Thanks

A separate question for HPDE's - if I just got better rotors (e.g. the AP J-hooks) and track pads for the front and left the OEM rotors and pads in the back, would that be any issue? Or do I have to run the same pad all around?

Thanks.

Jet Vet

Hope you don't mind if I toss in my experience with that exact set-up. I tracked my Z51 for a little over a year on the stock rotors with Carbotech XP10 pads in front and XP8 in the rear. After discussing it with one of the brake experts on another section of the forum, I recently upgraded to AP J-Hook rotors on the front only, and went to XP12 in front and XP10 in the back (still with the OEM rotors back there). That set-up has worked great, and I'm on my second set of front pads, with 50% pad remaining on the rear. I'll eventually put a set of AP J-Hooks on the rear also, but not until the OEM rear rotors wear out. Hope that helps.

JV

JRitt@essex

Hi,
Yes, our rear discs bolt-up exactly like the OEM rears, and they do accommodate the factory parking brake. The above pic is our actual rear C7 Z51 disc, not just a generic product photo.

I agree with Jet Vet on this one. It's okay to leave the OEM discs in back until you need to replace them, but I'd still recommend swapping out your rear pads to something with a higher max operating temperature than the OEM pads. The problem with the OEM pads is, if you exceed their max operating temp, you run the risk smearing them all over your rear discs. They essentially reach a certain temp, melt, and create uneven pad deposits on the disc, which causes judder and can actually kill the discs if it's bad enough.

Again, it's okay to wait until the rear discs are dead to replace them, but IMO it's worth the time to swap the pads out to something a little more track-appropriate.

Let me know if you have any questions. Z51 front and rear 2-piece discs are on the shelf and ready to ship!

Jet Vet- Please write us a product review on our site if you haven't already. We're giving away all kinds of cool prizes to those who help us out, including free spare iron! Thanks again for your purchase!

daleong

Thanks Jeff for the quick reply! The front rotors are definitely on my shopping list

Question - any wear / reliability issues with the parking brake being applied on the aluminum of the rear hat? I've seen other designs with an iron insert in the hat that supposedly mitigates any issues.

Thanks again!

JRitt@essex

No worries!

Assuming the parking brake is used for its intended purpose (adding a layer of security for holding the car in place when parked), there are no issues. Obviously it's not designed as a 'fun handle' to yank on when drifting. We decided to skip the iron and save the weight. Also, we use (and have always used) hard anodizing on rear hats that have a drum. It's the most durable type of anodizing. We use the same process on the disc hats in our complete BBK's. We have many of them in the field for 3-4 years now with pure aluminum hat, and zero issues.

daleong

Thanks again.. yeah, not planning on drifting my way around track days . I'm not even sure how you'd do it now with the e-parking brake and the electronic nannies it probably has.

daleong

Its a good day when this shows up at your door... the box barely survived the trip to TX..

daleong

Thanks to KNS Brakes and Essex for the great customer experience!! Recommend them for all your brake needs!

Nice rotor!



Before..


After....

AKKutz

Trying to get an understanding on all this.... Do the rotors come in a kit of two or do you purchase them separately?

JRitt@essex

Our discs come in pairs, fully assembled, and ready to drop on the car.

Front pair C7 Z51

Rear pair C7 Z51

Let us know if you have any other questions. Thanks!

sycraft

these are awesome, so want a set , but 2600 buys me another miata to play with....

JRitt@essex

If we followed your logic, then nobody would ever buy a $49k turbo kit for their Lambo Huracan. They'd just buy a C7 Z51 instead. But...they do. Different strokes for different folks.

There are lesser disc options out there, but we always find our discs save our customers money in the long run. They typically pay for themselves in about 2-3 years. OEM discs run extremely hot, crack constantly, burn up pads, boil brake fluid, and put wear and tear on your ball joints. With the stock components you also eat up labor time changing your discs and pads, bleeding fluid, etc. The discs are also worthless scrap metal once you use them up. They also are far more prone to fade when running hot, and can spoil your lap times or even your entire track weekend with missed sessions and inconsistent performance.

Our discs run far cooler, and last far longer. Subsequently, they don't burn up pads as quickly, and are less likely to boil your fluid. They don't put as much wear and tear on surrounding components, and they don't require as much (or any) labor time for maintenance. They're less prone to fade, so you have more consistent lap times. That means you're driving, rather than cursing and wrenching in the pits between sessions. You can just drive and enjoy them at the track. Even with used iron rings, you still have a considerable amount of residual value in the aluminum hats. You can get a nice chunk of change back for them on the used market.

It's not just about short-term usage or out of pocket expense. You have to be thinking about how long you plan to own and track your car, what you want that ownership experience to be like, and how much you want to invest in it.






Wow...you payed a lot for your miata (I stole mine for $1500)! :p

JRitt@essex

FYI...John Heinricy thinks our 2-piece discs a worthwhile upgrade. He's running them on his personal Z51. He has more track miles in a vette than just about anyone I'd imagine.

X25

FYI, the links on the first few posts are dead; you guys might want to update them for those who read into this thread for the first time.

JRitt@essex

Links in the early posts are updated, and now point to our new website. Thanks for the heads up!